Afghanistan

The high-level delegation, which included representatives of the upper and lower houses of Afghanistan's National Assembly, conducted three days of meetings with NATO officials aimed at discussing the role of Afghan women in supporting stability in the country, NATO reported. Officials said the meetings were part of an ongoing NATO initiative to "engage women in a constructive dialogue on issues related to the stability, reconstruction and development of Afghanistan," the release said.

Hamid Karzai has been accused of trying to win votes in Afghanistan's presidential election by backing a law the UN says legalises rape within marriage and bans wives from stepping outside their homes without their husbands' permission. A briefing document prepared by the United Nations Development Fund for Women also warns that the law grants custody of children to fathers and grandfathers only.
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Afghan women protesting against a law said to legalise marital rape have been pelted with stones by conservative opponents in Kabul. The group of up to 300 women faced a barrage of abuse and small stones from a counter demonstration up to twice the size of their protest. Sections of the new law, which rules on marital relations, divorce, inheritance and family matters for the country's Shia Muslim minority provoked international alarm when passed last month.

The international news magazine praised Ms. Pakzad, who founded the Voice of Women Organization (VWO) and works in close cooperation with UNIFEM Afghanistan, for her courageous and tireless work in providing Afghan women with shelter, counseling and job training, and raising awareness on gender-based violence in her country.
To read the full article, please visit UNIFEM's News Website.

As Afghanistan approaches their August presidential election, the potential for voter fraud that infringes on women's rights is gaining visibility. Women have been registering to vote in suspiciously high levels in regions of the country where women rarely travel. In a press conference, Dr. Sima Samar, chairperson of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission explained that "men are just bringing the names of a woman and getting registration cards on their behalf and that is why I can say there is a possibility of fraud," Reuters reported.

Women community leaders receiving education in effective campaign tactics will train more than 100 female candidates for Provincial Council in the run-up to the August 20 elections. Of the nearly 3200 candidates running for Provincial Councils nationwide, 328 are female. The idea is to help women run for and win office, and to grow the ranks of women serving in government.
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Sima Matin’s burqa limits her vision. It gives her migraines. Now it’s causing another problem: It’s hiding her from the voters she hopes will elect her in next month’s provincial election.For women running for office in one of the world’s most conservative countries, getting out the vote is an uphill battle against social norms. In a place where most women still wear the burqa and do not speak to men outside their immediate family, female candidates are courting danger simply by putting up posters of their uncovered faces.

Enraged by Taliban oppression Malalai Joya became a women’s rights activist, and after the US-led invasion, took on the new regime as an MP. But speaking out has come at a cost. She tells Johann Hari why death threats won’t stop her exposing ugly truths about Afghanistan.I am not sure how many more days I will be alive," Malalai Joya says quietly.The warlords who make up the new "democratic" government in Afghanistan have been sending bullets and bombs to kill this tiny 30-year-old from the refugee camps for years – and they seem to be getting closer with every attempt.

When Farzana Barekzai and her small band of female campaigners knock at the home of Ahmadin Pahlawan, he greets them and points to a poster of President Hamid Karzai above the door to assure them: His vote isn't changing.
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